As the Department of Tropical Medicine continues to grow and evolve, I take great pleasure in keeping you updated on the upcoming events, recruitment of new faculty/staff and our upcoming research projects.

The Department of Tropical Medicine is in the process of recruiting new faculty members as tenure track Assistant and Associate Professors in malaria biology, malaria immunology, arbovirology, parasitology and other vector-borne disease research.

The BSL2 and the BSL3 labs have been completed. These labs are located in our J. Bennett Johnston building and will be used to facilitate research on malaria and other vector-borne diseases.

The Department of Tropical Medicine bid farewell to Dr. Mark James. Dr. James has become the Founding Dean of the School of Public Health at Kent State University. Dr. James, the Department of Tropical Medicine wishes you all the best and we look forward to working with you in the future.

As our department continues to grow, we look forward to keeping you updated on research, travel and more.

The Department of Tropical Medicine would like to highlight the achievements of our faculty.

Dr. Nirbhay Kumar was selected to become the Chair of the Department of Tropical Medicine at Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine effective January 2010. Dr. Kumar joins us from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health where he served as a professor in the Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology. Dr. Kumar's prior accomplishments and honors include an invitation to deliver the R. Barclay McGhee Memorial Lecture at the American Society of Parasitology meeting in 2003, the Ranbaxy Science Foundation Medical Award in 2005, and election as an AAAS Fellow in 2007.

Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine received approximately $11.2 million from the NationalInstitute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, a division of the National Institutes of Health, to establish an International Center of Excellence in Malaria Research for West and Central Africa. Dr. Donald Krogstadwill serve as the principal investigator to oversee the project. More

Dr. Mark Wiser, an Associate Professor with special interest in the biology of parasites, particularly protozoa of medical importance, is the author of a new book "Protozoa and Human Disease" published by the Taylor-Francis Group. To find out more information about Dr. Wiser's book,

A group of researchers lead by Dr. Dawn Wesson, Associate Professor in the Department of Tropical Medicine, has developed a novel mosquito trap. As part of a pilot study, up to 10,000 traps will be deployed in Iquitos, Peru. If the traps prove to be successful, they could offer a low-cost strategy to prevent dengue transmission.

Click Here to watch Dr. Wesson's video interview and to find out more information about the novel mosquito trap.

Dr. Richard Oberhelman, a Professor in the Department of Tropical Medicine, is the primary author of an article that was featured in the Lancet Infectious Disease. This article outlines the major results of pediatric tuberculosis diagnostics in Peru.To read a summary of Dr. Oberhelman's article, click here

Faculty Profiles

To find out what our faculty is doing with updates on research, travel and more click here.

Student Highlights

The Department of Tropical Medicine would like to highlight the achievements of our students.

On December 1, 2010, the members of Dr. Wesson's laboratory traveled to Baton Rouge, LA to attend the Louisiana Mosquito Control Association yearly conference. Dr. Wesson spoke about dengue fever, Mark Rider and Megan Saunders spoke about their personal areas of research.

The Department of Tropical Medicine is in Malaysia. The Department of Tropical Medicine offers a course for undergraduate and graduates that provides an increased understanding of culture and health in the context of Kuala Lumpar, Malaysia. This course is led by Dr. Latha Rajan, an Associate Professor of Clinical Tropical Medicine in the Department of Tropical Medicine.

Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine will celebrate 100 years of service in November 2012. The School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine is the oldest school of public health in America and the only combined school of public health and tropical medicine in the country. We invite you to join us in these celebrations. More

Tell us what you think about our newsletter. Submit any feedback or news of your achievements to kyarls@tulane.edu